Collapsible and separable golf clubs are known in the art, and are typically connected using a screw-type connection, or other type of connections that are either hard to manipulate or cannot be manipulated quickly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,619 discloses a collapsible golf club having an upper shaft portion, with a grip, an intermediate shaft portion, and a lower shaft portion with a club head all of which are connected to one another via an elaborate screw-type mechanism. The upper shaft portion includes a first securing mechanism at one end having an externally threaded surface at the head locking nut adapted to threadably engage with the externally threaded portion, and an aperture adapted to receive the intermediate portion of the shaft. A first end of the intermediate portion of the shaft is sized and shaped to slidingly engage with the aperture of the first securing mechanism. A second end of the intermediate portion of the shaft includes a second securing mechanism which is substantially similar to the first securing mechanism. In a similar manner, a first end of the lower shaft portion is sized and shaped to slidingly engage with the second securing mechanism. In a collapsed state, the intermediate portion is recessed into the upper portion of the shaft, and the lower portion of the shaft is recessed within the intermediate portion of the shaft, thereby creating a golf club that is slightly larger than the upper portion of the shaft. To achieve an extended state, the intermediate portion must be pulled from the upper portion of the shaft and the lower portion of the shaft must be pulled from the intermediate portion of the shaft. The shaft portions are then secured relative to each other by threadably engaging the locking nuts with the externally threaded portions on each of the upper and intermediate portions of the shaft, thereby causing the locking nuts to tighten around the shaft portions disposed within the externally threaded areas.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,006 discloses an axially collapsible golf club having a first portion and a second portion on a grip at a first end and which are moveable with respect to one another. The first portion includes a pair of holes and a receiving aperture at a second end. The second portion has a pair of internally threaded holes at a first end and a club head at a second end. The first end of the second portion of the shaft is received internally of the second end of the first portion of the shaft, such that the second portion of the shaft can retract into the first portion of the shaft. In an extended state, the pair of holes on the first portion and the pair of internally threaded holes on the second portion are aligned so that a pair of fasteners may be inserted through the first portion of the shaft into the threaded holes of the second portion of the shaft, thereby rigidly connecting the first and second portions. To collapse the golf club, the fasteners are removed from the internally threaded holes of the second portion of the shaft and from the holes of the first portion of the shaft, thereby allowing the first portion to retract into the second portion of the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,404 discloses a separable-shaft golf club having a separable shaft with first and second portions connected by a threadable fastener. More specifically, a male threaded fastener is inserted into the first portion of the shaft and a female threaded fastener is inserted into the second portion of the shaft, thereby allowing the first portion to threadably engage the second portion of the shaft. To extend the shaft, the male fastener is threaded into the female fastener thereby creating one contiguous shaft. On the other hand, to collapse the shaft, the male fastener is simply unscrewed from the female fastener thereby creating two separate shaft portions.
These collapsible and separable golf clubs all require an extended period of time to be connected and/or disconnected, thereby making the use of these clubs during fitting, practice and actual golf play difficult and impractical. Similarly, the twisting and bending forces placed on these golf clubs during normal playing conditions may weaken the connections, causing improper ball flight and potentially causing failure of the club and/or the connection.